Spin-off: American and British/Irish culture Q&A thread.

[Buzz Rules]

Spin-off: American and British culture Q&A thread. The same idea as my other one but this thread will be about American and British culture. So British and American Disboards, ask questions about each other’s culture here. Remember to be respectful and polite. American and British people share a unique connection and this thread is about celebrating it. Have fun everyone.

 

[Buzz Rules]

First question for Brits. How much American history do you guys learn? From British people I know, they say more is taught now than in the past. Does it vary by county or is education pretty much uniform across the country?

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Oh good, I have a ton of questions from movies & TV shows set in Britain, and just general things you read and hear. To start--what you call public school is what we would call private school. You pay to go to it and have to be admitted. Our public school is paid for by taxpayer dollars, and everyone is allowed in. It is the law requiring kids to attend some school until 16 or 18. If you can afford and qualify for private school, you don't have to go to public school. What do you call that which we call public school? Do you feel like they are not a good education?

 

[BadPinkTink]

First question for Brits. How much American history do you guys learn? From British people I know, they say more is taught now than in the past. Does it vary by county or is education pretty much uniform across the country?

Irish person who has lived in London and Edinburgh. I was in school in the 1980's and 1990's

In Ireland the main focus in both primary school and secondary school was on Irish history. History was a compulsory subject for me up until the first state exam at about age 15. In the compulsory classes, we got an age appropriate overview of world history as we went through the school system. We got the basics of American history, but for me personally most of the American history I know came from self research. A lot of my self research started from watching or reading historical fiction and then I would find a way to learn about the real life events the historical fiction was inspired by or based on.

In Ireland we have a national curriculum, so every school teaches the same thing no matter the location or who runs the school.

Oh good, I have a ton of questions from movies & TV shows set in Britain, and just general things you read and hear. To start--what you call public school is what we would call private school. You pay to go to it and have to be admitted. Our public school is paid for by taxpayer dollars, and everyone is allowed in. It is the law requiring kids to attend some school until 16 or 18. If you can afford and qualify for private school, you don't have to go to public school. What do you call that which we call public school? Do you feel like they are not a good education?

In Ireland it is similar to America.
Our state schools are funded by the Government but there is no separation of state and church. The majority of state schools in Ireland are run by The Catholic Church.

There are also independent schools, run by an official charity called Educate Together. This organization was set up to give an alternative option to the State run Catholic schools. They teach the national curriculum with a multidenominational ethos.

There are also a small number of independent Irish language schools, who teach the national curriculum through the Irish language.

The state run schools, Irish language schools and Educate Together schools are free, as they receive funding from The Irish Government and are inspected by The Irish Department of Education.

We also have a number of private fee paying schools. They teach the national curriculum but do not receive funding from The Irish Government and are not inspected by The Irish Department of Education.

In Ireland education is compulsory for all children in from the ages of five / six to sixteen.
To leave school at 16 you must have completed the first state exam called The Junior Cert.

Primary School

• Junior Infants (age 4–5/5–6) (informally known as Low Infants)
• Senior Infants (age 5–6/6–7) (informally known as High Infants)
• First Class (age 6–7/7–8)
• Second Class (age 7–8/8–9)
• Third Class (age 8–9/9–10)
• Fourth Class (age 9–10/10–11)
• Fifth Class (age 10–11/11–12)
• Sixth Class (age 11–12/12–13)

Secondary School
This is split into 2 sections, with an optional transition year in between the two sections. Not all schools offer the transition year and it usually has a limited amount of students.

The Junior Cycle is a three-year programme, culminating in the Junior Certificate examination. The Junior Certificate examination is sat in all subjects (usually 10 or 11) in early-June, directly after the end of Third Year.

• First Year (age 12–13/13–14)
• Second Year (age 13–14/14–15)
• Third Year (age 14–15/15–16)

Transition Year​

• Transition Year sometimes called Fourth Year (age 15-16/16-17) – depending on school, this may be compulsory, optional or unavailable.

Senior Cycle​

The Senior Cycle is a two-year programme to prepare students for the Leaving Certificate examinations. The Leaving Certificate examinations take place directly after the end of Sixth Year, with the first exam being held on the Wednesday following the June public holiday (the first Monday in June).

• Fifth Year (age 16–18 or age 15–17 if Transition Year is skipped)
• Sixth Year (age 17–19 or age 16–18 if Transition Year is skipped)

 

[RedAngie]

Does anyone remember the old British monetary system pre-decimal?

Pounds, shillings, pence, or whatever. Seems overly tedious and complicated but I suppose one got accustomed to it.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Does anyone remember the old British monetary system pre-decimal?

Pounds, shillings, pence, or whatever. Seems overly tedious and complicated but I suppose one got accustomed to it.

No but I have been though a currency change, when Ireland went from the Irish decimal currency to Euros. I grew up with Irish pounds / punts £, and pence and then in 2002 we changed to Euros.

 

[Jangles]

First question for Brits. How much American history do you guys learn? From British people I know, they say more is taught now than in the past. Does it vary by county or is education pretty much uniform across the country?

In State funded schools the curricula is quite narrow and structured towards passing examinations. Fee paying schools (public/independent/private) have the ability, time, impetus to explore much broader curricula in every subject. Most fee paying schools allow pupils the option of studying the history of various countries.

 

[C&Jx2]

I just bought a new car and the financial guy was telling me that people in the UK only pay taxes on their vehicles once, when it is originally purchased, even if it's resold, and also the owner only has to register it once and it's good for the length of ownership?

 

[Jangles]

Oh good, I have a ton of questions from movies & TV shows set in Britain, and just general things you read and hear. To start--what you call public school is what we would call private school. You pay to go to it and have to be admitted. Our public school is paid for by taxpayer dollars, and everyone is allowed in. It is the law requiring kids to attend some school until 16 or 18. If you can afford and qualify for private school, you don't have to go to public school. What do you call that which we call public school? Do you feel like they are not a good education?

Not quite correct. We have ‘tiers’ of fee paying schools. ‘Public’ schools are the top tier and are usually boarding schools, such as Eton, Charterhouse, The Cheltenham Ladies College, Harrow etc. Traditionally they were single sex, but many are now co-Ed. Fees are about £50,000 a year. Independent/private schools are generally day schools and have a local catchment area. We also have ‘tiered’ state funded schools, referred to as comprehensive schools, academies and in England they have selected entry grammar schools. We also have fee paying ‘prep’ schools, which children attend from 4/5 until 11/13 as either day pupils or boarders from the age of 7/8. These tend to be feeder schools for public schools (and grammar schools in England). Girls traditionally attend boarding school from the age of 11 and boys from 13.
In Wales we also have state funded Welsh schools (all subjects taught in Welsh) and Church schools.

I would say that the public schools offer a much broader education, so Latin, classics, more modern languages etc., and the curricula is not examination led. Also sports are taken every day.

Our University system is different too. Here we tend to focus on one discipline from the outset, eg, microbiology or law or history and study that exclusively for 3/4 years. Your University system seems to offer a much truer/broader ‘education’.

 

[Jangles]

Does anyone remember the old British monetary system pre-decimal?

Pounds, shillings, pence, or whatever. Seems overly tedious and complicated but I suppose one got accustomed to it.

I do. We had farthings, half pennies pronounced hay-puh-nee, pennies, three pence (thrupence), sixpence, shillings, half crowns and crowns. You had to be very good at multiples of 12.

 

[RedAngie]

I do. We had farthings, half pennies pronounced hay-puh-nee, pennies, three pence (thrupence), sixpence, shillings, half crowns and crowns. You had to be very good at multiples of 12.

Several times while watching older pre-1971 UK movies or TV show reruns, there were mentions of the old system. In a shop, the cashier might announce the total price as something like “3, 7, and 4.” I assume that meant 3 pounds, 7 shillings, and 4 pence.

 

[fla4fun]

Two questions about doors. I have watched a lot of British decorating and remodeling shows and two things caught my eye.

One - Why does it look like every room has a door that closes? Is it due to how the homes are heated? Privacy? Was it just an architectural style for a period of time or are homes still built that way?

In every home I have visited or lived in here, only the bathrooms and bedrooms have doors, for privacy, and the remainder of the home is open plan, with little or no separation between areas such as the kitchen, dining room, living room, etc.

Two - I have noticed, especially with bedrooms, that many times the door opens towards the room, instead of towards the corner, effectively creating a small hallway and blocking access to the room if there is any furniture near the door. It’s really obvious on camera when the door won’t open completely. On one show, the door appeared to open perhaps halfway at best.

Our doors pretty much always open so that they lie flat against the interior corner wall, so sometimes the hinge is on the right of the door and sometimes it’s on the left, depending on the corner of the room where the door is placed. The only exceptions I can think of would be when pocket or French doors are used, or in the case of an exterior door, which may not be in a corner of a room.

it’s funny how something simple like doors can be so different!

 

[Jangles]

I just bought a new car and the financial guy was telling me that people in the UK only pay taxes on their vehicles once, when it is originally purchased, even if it's resold, and also the owner only has to register it once and it's good for the length of ownership?

Yes, this is true. Individuals only pay sales tax (vat) on new vehicles, and not in second hand vehicles. But dealers pay VAT on second hand vehicles. We also pay road tax annually and vehicles have to be inspected for safety, emissions etc., every year, after three years.
I find your driving licence rules
‘adventurous’ because you allow 16 year olds to drive. Here 17 year olds take an online theory test and then a practical test, so they are usually closer to 18 before they can drive alone and even then the cost of insurance, particularly for young men is prohibitive ….. but of course young people here can legally drink alcohol from 18.

 

[Kanga and Roo]

Does anyone remember the old British monetary system pre-decimal?

Pounds, shillings, pence, or whatever. Seems overly tedious and complicated but I suppose one got accustomed to it.

Yes, I was 7 and Mr J was 9 when it changed over. We both remember the coins, but, not too much of actual shopping beyond the thrupenny bit and sixpence we got as pocket money.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Two questions about doors. I have watched a lot of British decorating and remodeling shows and two things caught my eye.

One - Why does it look like every room has a door that closes? Is it due to how the homes are heated? Privacy? Was it just an architectural style for a period of time or are homes still built that way?

In every home I have visited or lived in here, only the bathrooms and bedrooms have doors, for privacy, and the remainder of the home is open plan, with little or no separation between areas such as the kitchen, dining room, living room, etc.

The houses in Britain and Ireland are the same. Our weather is classed as mild temperate. We dont get the very high summer temperature and we dont get the very cold winters. Both countries get a lot of rain. We have a similar climate to Washington State.

We also dont get things like hurricanes or earthquakes.

As a result our houses are built from brick and cement and are designed to keep heat in. We have central heating systems powered by oil , gas or electricity.

Houses don't have an open plan design and doors in every room to conserve heat. In the winter, when doors to rooms are closed, it helps with heating costs.

Houses are still built this way, this the website https://www.whitethornvillage.com/ for a new housing estate currently being built in Dublin. They have photos of the show houses and every room has a door. While these houses are more modern in design than my parents house built in the 1970's, they are still the same basic layout.

 

[Kanga and Roo]

I'm not going to elaborate for fear of offending our American cousins, but, Mr J loves his history and finds so much stuff that I and many others never realised about American and British history in the 18th/19th century.

 

[Jangles]

Two questions about doors. I have watched a lot of British decorating and remodeling shows and two things caught my eye.

One - Why does it look like every room has a door that closes? Is it due to how the homes are heated? Privacy? Was it just an architectural style for a period of time or are homes still built that way?

In every home I have visited or lived in here, only the bathrooms and bedrooms have doors, for privacy, and the remainder of the home is open plan, with little or no separation between areas such as the kitchen, dining room, living room, etc.

Two - I have noticed, especially with bedrooms, that many times the door opens towards the room, instead of towards the corner, effectively creating a small hallway and blocking access to the room if there is any furniture near the door. It’s really obvious on camera when the door won’t open completely. On one show, the door appeared to open perhaps halfway at best.

Our doors pretty much always open so that they lie flat against the interior corner wall, so sometimes the hinge is on the right of the door and sometimes it’s on the left, depending on the corner of the room where the door is placed. The only exceptions I can think of would be when pocket or French doors are used, or in the case of an exterior door, which may not be in a corner of a room.

it’s funny how something simple like doors can be so different!

Interesting. I live in a very old house and every room has a door that opens inwards, other than the doors on the lower floor off the kitchen, towards the lower staircase as those open both ways. The majority of the housing here was built during the Victorian era/industrial revolution. The terraced houses tend to be ‘two up, two down’ , with a family room for everyday use and a drawing/front/best room, then a kitchen tacked onto the back. Detached homes of that era have a hallway and a room on either side of the hallway. When built most had outside loos and now you often find these downstairs, built onto a kitchen extension. The houses had ceiling roses, coving, dado rails and fireplaces in every room, but sadly in the 70s many people ripped out these beautiful features and the two downstairs rooms were often knocked through to form one bigger room. More modern houses have open plan kitchen-breakfast/dining rooms.

When very young US children draw houses, what do the houses look like? Children here still draw a front door in the middle, with a window on each side of the door and then two more windows directly above in the first floor. Plus a chimney pot and a tree, even though very few houses actually look like that anymore.

We have ‘council houses’, i.e., houses owned by the government/local authority and rented at a subsidised rate to those who cannot afford to buy their own homes or pay a commercial rent. Wales has the largest council estate in Europe, known as ‘The Gurnos’.
In theory, no one in the U.K. should be homeless, but of course there is insufficient council owned housing for everyone who needs it, particularly because Thatcher championed a scheme which allowed council tenants to purchase their homes at a reduced rate.

 

[Buzz Rules]

When very young US children draw houses, what do the houses look like? Children here still draw a front door in the middle, with a window on each side of the door and then two more windows directly above in the first floor. Plus a chimney pot and a tree, even though very few houses actually look like that anymore.

This. Just a classic house.

 

[cheryl.UK]

First question for Brits. How much American history do you guys learn? From British people I know, they say more is taught now than in the past. Does it vary by county or is education pretty much uniform across the country?

The GCSE exams which ab out 50% of our 16 year olds take has 2 American history modules:

America, 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation​

America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and inequality​

but these are just 2 of several options.

The A level exam which some of our 18 year olds take has four options

The making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975​

The Birth of the USA, 1760–1801​

America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877​

The American Dream: reality and illusion, 1945–1980​

Other than that, America's involvement in world events such as WW2 or the Cold War are also studied.

 

[cheryl.UK]

The question I'd like to ask is what do US children learn of British history?